Mega Millions — IRS Docs Show Friar Coach Cooley Paid More $33M While at PC
The Biz of Sports
Mega Millions — IRS Docs Show Friar Coach Cooley Paid More $33M While at PC
According to IRS documents filed by the college, Cooley — a man who grew up in Providence and attended Central High School — was paid in total compensation $33,663,717 over 12 seasons.
He was paid $32,027,223 in salary and also received an additional $1,636,494 in “other payments” from PC. These numbers do not include income earned from speaking engagements and promotional appearances.
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Cooley’s salary his last year was more than $4.8 million and that was for a partial year, according to tax documents.
Pro-rated for the year — Cooley was on pace to exceed $5 million before quitting the Friars and heading to Georgetown.
Compensation Jumped More Than 300%
From Cooley’s first full year of compensation at Providence to his last year, his salary jumped more than 310%.
In 2012, his salary was $1,143,244.00 and his additional compensation was $37,060, for a total of $1,180,304.
11 years later, it had skyrocketed to salary of $4,698,511 and additional comp of $165,876 — driving the total PC comp to about $4,864,387 for about 10 months.
In Cooley’s final season at Providence, his salary was the highest in the Big East Conference.
It was a significant change for the program. Cooley’s predecessor, Keno Davis, did not hit the million-dollar mark in his last year.
Davis was paid $847,468 and additional compensation of $42,462— his total comp $889,930.
Cooley’s tenure was arguably the best or one of the best in PC’s history, rivaling Dave Gavitt and Joe Mullaney.
Gavitt had a Final Four appearance, and Mullaney scored an NIT championship.
But Cooley was a great or the greatest coach in Friar history.
“Under Cooley's leadership, PC enjoyed seven NCAA tournament berths (eight except for COVID), PC's first-ever Big East Season title, and a Big East tournament title. Keep in mind that while coaching PC, Coaches Gavitt, Mullaney, and Pitino totaled nine NCAA berths all combined to the seven NCAA berths under Cooley alone,” wrote attorney and former basketball Bill Lynch in March after Cooley’s departure in a column in GoLocal.
“This amazing turnaround and the incredible and consistent success under Cooley's leadership, however, doesn't even begin to measure the tremendous personal dedication and the resulting positive impact that Coach Cooley provided off the court to many young men and women across Rhode Island, particularly young men and women of color, who were and continue to be inspired not only by Coach Cooley, but by Ed Cooley, the person in his own personal journey to survive and succeed against seemingly impossible odds.”
Salaries Continue to Explode
The Cooley data was for the 2022-2023 season; compensation for top coaches will continue to explode in 2024 and beyond as more money pours into the game.
According to Sports 24/7, three Hall of Fame coaches — John Calipari (Kentucky), Tom Izzo (Michigan State) and Bill Self (Kansas) — held the highest total salaries for last season.
|
1 |
Bill Self |
Kansas |
$9.6 million |
|
2 |
John Calipari |
Kentucky |
$8.5 million |
|
3 |
Tom Izzo |
Michigan St. |
$6.2 million |
Calipari, who jumped from Kentucky to the University of Arkansas, is reported to be getting a base of $7 million a year plus a number of incentives.
According to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, ”…Calipari will be paid a base salary of $7 million per year as the men’s basketball coach. Calipari, 65, signed a five-year contract through the 2028-29 season. Calipari’s contract will include a $1 million signing bonus, then retention bonuses of $500,000 each year.